I have the Lionel Lincoln Funeral Train (more pictures and review on 3 rail forum).
https://ogrforum.com/d...nt/10299794794922929
I'm curious about the origin of the cars in Lionel's model, specifically the two (rearmost in picture below) in extension set. They are wonderful models - detailed and nicely done (with very good interiors), and I'd like to see some more.
But are they models of actual passenger cars that existed at the time? Specifically, are they very early Pullman cars?
Several references I've found, such as the discussion of the Lincoln funeral train in Christian Wolmar's The Railroad Revolution, say that they were. However, while they look roughly like the earliest Pullman cars, I can't find photos/diagrams/descriptions that exactly match. (Early Pullman cars had 15 windows, these have 12, and slightly different construction, apparently, etc., etc.).
What I have been able to learn by research:
1) The lead (four truck car) which carried the coffin, is a remarkably-true-to-prototype model of the railroad car called the United States, also known as The President's Car. It was not a Pullman car, but made the year before in the Military Railway System shops in Alexandria for Lincoln. He had refused to use it while alive because it was too ornate. Comparison of the model to a photo of the actual shows very few differences (the bunting right over the photo/logo in the center of the car's side - a small medallion or something round just above that bunting, the width of the end sections next to the vestibules). I'm depending a lot on this website: http://www.midcontinent.org/ro...uilders/pullman2.htm
2) The two model cars provided in the extension set (the models are identical) appear to be the exact same plastic body as the United States, with just two trucks, a simpler "center logo", and less ornate paint. Again, twelve windows vs. fifteen for Pullman. I wonder if Lionel just used the body of the very accurate model of that car to create two more "representative cars" not exactly true to any real-world prototypes but looking pretty good for the time.
Does anyone know if the Military Railway Shops made more passenger cars. The Lincoln Funeral Train apparently had six other cars on it and I cannot find details (photos, etc.) of those cars.
Thanks for any information available.
